Des Moines firefighter honored for heroic river rescue
By KCCI staff
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DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) — A Des Moines fire captain has been awarded with the department’s Medal of Honor for saving a 7-year-old boy from drowning in the Des Moines River last summer.
On June 28, Capt. Joe Van Haalen responded to a report of a child clinging to a wire in the middle of the river near Principal Park. The river was high and rough with heavy debris from recent rains.
When Van Haalen arrived, he realized there wasn’t enough time to wait for the special rescue WET team, so he wrapped a rope around his forearm, lowered himself into the water and rescued the boy.
“In that moment when a child’s life was in danger, Capt. Van Haalen did what true leaders do: he assessed, he committed, he acted,” said a department spokesperson.
The department awarded Van Haalen the Medal of Honor for his act of heroism, a rare award that hasn’t been given out in more than a decade.
Van Haalen described the urgency of the situation, saying, “I told my crew that day as we were headed there and we could see the child floating down the river that I was going in.” He added, “There was no way that we could leave him in this predicament that he was in.”
Firefighters Ben Wafful and Marco Matias were also given awards for their assistance in the rescue.
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